Greetings All –
STEP BACK FROM THE WORLD’S PERSUASIONS. Recognize
what is certain and what is confused. Recognize what is devoted and what is
ambivalent. Let not the power of the world’s frustration and confusion overtake
you today, but hold the light of God within your heart. Keep it burning within
yourself as you venture into the world. Thus, you pass through the world
unscathed and uninfluenced because you are abiding with Knowledge. Without
Knowledge, the world merely sweeps you away in its own frenzy. It sweeps you
away in its inducements and its mad pursuits.
TODAY YOU ABIDE WITH KNOWLEDGE, and so you are free
of the world’s persuasions. Repeat today’s idea upon the hour and recognize how
important it is in maintaining your inner balance and your sense of self and
certainty. Realize how important today’s idea is in allowing you to keep
stillness alive within you so that your deeper meditations, in which you will
practice stillness again today, can exert their influence and their results
upon all of your activities, for this is their purpose.
RECOGNIZE THE WORLD’S PERSUASIONS AND STEP BACK. This
you are given to do, for here you have the power of decision. This you can do
once you recognize the world’s persuasions and realize how important Knowledge
is. This will enable you to exercise the power of decision on your own behalf.
Here the world will not claim you, and here you will be a force for good in the
world, for this is your purpose.
IN YOUR DEEPER MEDITATION PRACTICES, once again
give today’s idea as an invocation to prepare you. In stillness and in silence
enter into the sanctuary of Knowledge so that you may rejuvenate and refresh
yourself there. Find reprieve there from your own internal conflicts and from
the conflicts that rage in the world. When you return from your sanctuary,
remind yourself that you will not be claimed by the world’s confusion. Remind
yourself that you will not fall prey to the world’s persuasions. Then, you will
carry forth the safety that you are now learning to receive into the world
around you.
PRACTICE 303: Two 30-minute practice periods. Hourly
practice.
The practice of this Step gave a crucial insight to this direction given
by Jesus: “But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall
smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.” Matthew 5:39 King
James Version.
Turning the other cheek is not an option in every
situation of evil. What are we to do? For me, this was an answer:
“AS YOU
PASS THROUGH THE WORLD THIS DAY, remember this idea upon the hour and let
yourself be present to whatever circumstance you are in. Allow your inner life
to be still so that Knowledge may exert its influence and its guidance for you.
Allow yourself to carry certainty today—the certainty of Knowledge. This is a
certainty that you have not invented or constructed for yourself. It abides
with you always, in spite of your confusion.
DO NOT
RESIST THE WORLD TODAY, for Knowledge is with you. …”
This for me, expanded: “Resist not evil,” from a specific situation - direct attack, to a more global means of dealing with all in the world that is unfair and evil. Now it is: "Resist not the world." A great and important expansion of the message from Jesus.
Other thoughts recorded on the page: T-om Su-ne Tourist – Planet Earth; → the world is the canvas for expression
of Knowledge;
and begin
to avoid the things that unstill my inner life. Always a vivid imagination.
Likewise the journal was full of words.
A few might generate a laugh:
Sunday,
May 14, 2000
---
→ I'm neither sad
nor happy. I'm in the woods – in a fabulously beautiful setting.
My
new PC has been fun. The MS tools are very good. I've been able to do a few
things – download GIFs – reinstall the modem, set up the mail.
This morning – thinking – "Alone, I work on cooperation."
---
2
p.m. The world, at true speed, is still.
→ I will not
resist the world today.
I
still my mind. The eyes are open – the body is alert and writes what comes
through automatically. An open eyes meditation, moving through the world
environment stillness –
2:25
p.m. The meditation ends…. I need Knowledge faster.
What
is my work for Knowledge? The world is moving me out of my current
relationships – ---
2:44
p.m.
Dear
Unseen Ones –
Due
to my great personal need for the full presence of Knowledge in my life I choose
to read ahead in the practices in order to get a better sense of direction. As
you know – I've done this before. There are no locks on the pages. When I do
practices – the pre-reading has no diminishing effect – in fact the difference
between the first look and the day of practice often is a lesson too. So – in
my great need I work ahead – though I may not totally have grasped the current
message.
Amen & Amen
Thomas –
2:55
p.m. Reading Step 309 – "The world I see is attempting to become one
community." This step, this practice – which I read 1/23 /2000 again today
5/14/2000 – affirms to me my path & vision. It is my credo and manifesto –
which I express in Regions Work/Local Planet Regions/Regional Intelligence.
→ Settlement of
the world's lands has led to fragmentation of the local planet into
governmental units/defensive boundaries –
→ regions
integrate to higher scales of wholeness – encompassing the whole planet – on
its way to greater wholes –
3:25
p.m. I am not confused about my purpose in the world. I am surprised the others
don't share it or see the need. The human history as so fragmented life that
it constantly works against unity and community.
---
>
geography/geographical analysis – separates – divides – analyzes. The world is only of use to us whole,
everything seems to fragment it - a new perception is needed – levels of
wholeness – wholy, wholy, wholy –
→ focus on cities
– fragments the hinterlands.]
8:10
p.m. Home. Being civil. Called Mom for Mother's Day. Mowed the lawn. It looks
nice. I'm not a fan of yardwork.
Open
eye stillness -
Step
302 – "I will not resist the world today."
– you
sought the world to replace K
–
now receive K from the source
–
the world no longer a substitute for K
–
escape the world into the sanctuary of stillness
–
greater involve in sanctuary of stillness
–
greater ease being in the world
for
– you will not be attempting to use the world as a substitute for your Ancient
Home.
–
(Stranger in a strange land.)
Here
– world beneficial to you – you beneficial to the world.
[Like
in the Navy – once I decided to be a good yeoman – life got better. I read “As
A Man Thinketh?"]
→ The world, unlike my true Home – is an
imperfect place. I'll do my best as a human. An enlistee from a different
plane.
A very active mind and pen. You may be thinking a
lot in these Steps. Consider getting it down in a journal. This is important
for reviews and understanding your own growth. Let us continue.
NNC
P.S. At Step 303, we are into Part Two of Steps, so
if you’ve found this and find some appeal in this or other Steps, you should
really go to the beginning blog post. From here you learn about Steps to Knowledge and
can begin it on the day that makes sense and then progress as needed. You can
use the posts on this blog as a companion if it helps. They will remain in
order in the archives - one per Step.
Often it takes 18 months to get through the Steps
once. For this blog, the pace is one-a-day, but it really makes no difference
how fast you do it, only that you begin, persist and repeat. Posts here provide
a trail that may let you have a virtual companion when and if you want one. One
may have to study alone, as I did in the beginning. There are other Steps
students blogging their experience and you might find a person more like you as
a companion, or use a number of such Steps journeys. There are options as well
through the Free School of the New Message.
